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Every 47 seconds a child is born in the United States uninsured, according to the Children's Defense Fund. At this moment nine million children are not covered by Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Most live in families with two working parents. It's a national disgrace that 11.6% of all children in the United States are not provided adequate health care. One of the richest nations in the world cannot find the resources to care for its children but can manage to pump $200 million a day into war, at a rate of $100,000 per minute.

It came as no surprise that a conversation between United Methodist leaders and staff of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would find common ground. But the sense of shared commitment to the claim that every life has value that pervades the Gates Foundation philosophy struck some of us as a strong complement to the religious claim that all life is sacred. So it isn't just commonality about programs or approaches to confronting poverty, hunger and disease. It's a shared sense of belief in the value of human life. This became more obvious to me as the conversation progressed. And it made the possibility of partnership seem possible.

CARE's announcement today that it will halt using U.S. food aid in its programs overseas is a courageous, controversial step but a step in the right direction. The issue is controversial because CARE, and some other nonprofits, say the food aid undermines local production and undercuts the market price for locally produced food. But the policy in the U.S. is used to provide income to U.S. farmers for their over production. It benefits U.S. farmers while also providing food to poor people overseas.

For several months conversations have been taking place in The United Methodist Church about an initiative to address global health concerns. Of particular interest is malaria. The people of the church have been enthusiastic and generous giving to Nothing But Nets which provides bednets to mothers with young children through the UN's Measles Vaccination Program.

Christine Gorman who writes the Global Health Report is back from a visit to South Africa and writing about HIV/AIDs in that country. Her report on grandmothers is particularly interesting to me because I've seen what grandmothers have done in spontaneous care-giving for children orphaned by this disease. It's quite remarkable. The grandmothers of Africa are in many ways keeping the social fabric together. They have voluntarily taken in orphaned children and are providing them care, guidance, shelter and food. It's a huge challenge that probably would have been impossible to organize formally. They just do it.

Tennessee and Alabama are in the grips of one of the longest droughts in memory and now it's coupled with triple digit heat. At the same time, floods are disrupting life in many areas of the world including the United Kingdom, India and Bangledesh. A tornado touched down in Brooklyn yesterday causing one incredulous resident to say, "This isn't Kansas!" The caption on the Weather Channel today is "Deadly Heat and Savage Storms."

The BBC reports researchers in Kenya have documented a 94% reduction rate for malarial mosquitos consumed by tilapia, a fish commonly used as a food source in many parts of the world.

I've been swamped with work lately and have not blogged as frequently as in the past. And I'm looking into changing blogging platforms and that's taken time. It's a major change. I'm loooking at Wordpress primarily because it's accessible, has many plugins and looks like it will transfer my iBlog files.

The Guardian reports this morning on the graduation of eight U.S. medical students from the Latin America School of Medicine, a creation of Fidel Castro on the outskirts of Havana. The Cuban medical system is one of the most advanced in Central America in many ways. However, it operates with equipment that in many places is far from state of the art. Despite its time-worn physical plant and technology, patients from around Latin America, and some from far distant nations, come for treatment and get good care. The graduating U.S. students may face challenges gaining licenses to practice in the U.S. but the commitment they express in the article to serving the poor illustrates the emphasis of the Cuban system on humanitarian service. It will be interesting to follow these students and see how they progress in the U.S.

I've written a fair share of criticism about the media in this blog. I think the issue of sloppiness--my own first and others secondarily--ought to be challenged. Especially in our media environment where messages travel around the world in seconds and have immediate influence.

A Black Swallowtail

She glided in and briefly rested on the golden fennel. Her wings fluttered as she hesitated on one spike before flitting to another. Then she flew to the butterfly bush, moving deliberately from one tiny petal to the next drinking in nectar before she swept away as quickly as she had come.

A Swallowtail egg on golden fennel

A caterpillar emerging from its eggshell

Camouflaged as bird droppings.

A caterpillar eating fennel

The chrysalis stage

Just emerged from chrysalis

"Oil field trash" is an epithet applied to lower middle class whites who work at the most menial and dangerous jobs in the oil patch. It was applied to me as a third-grader in a dusty West Texas town. My dad was an oilfied roustabout, also known as a roughneck. Oilfield famlies like us were among the nomadic poor. We travelled from place to place following the re-location of drilling rigs prospecting for oil. Our lives literally revolved around the location.

It's the morning after Live Earth, the largest event of its kind, according to Al Gore. Despite its scale, impressive as it is, the proof of its value will come later when we learn if the public awareness and calls to action have lasting effect.

The Live Earth concerts this weekend seek to create a tipping point to address the climate crisis. It's an urgent need and a noble effort. Al Gore has called global warming the moral issue of our time.

I wasn't surprised that U.S. media didn't cover the partnership agreement between UMCOR and Muslim Aid. In this day of division and religious fanaticism two moderate groups, one from the third largest denomination in the U.S. and the other serving Muslims of all theological positions, carrying out peace-making isn't news, at least not when you've got Paris Hilton getting out of jail.